Adventures on the Wine Trail...

The Southwest Wisconsin Wine Trail was so much fun!!! My hubby and I and another couple went for the day.  There were four wineries on the trail but we went to three of them and added another one in Illinois...We decided that Spurgeon would be our first stop.  On the way there my friends iPhone took us on a crazy backroad round about way to get there!  We learned that when a sign says "Road Closed", it really means road closed!  If you are from Wisconsin you will understand this one!  At this stop we bought our tickets and got our wine glasses for the day.

Spurgeon Vineyards

I Loved the wines at this vineyard and bought two bottles.  Mary was our host for the wine trail and we tried four different sangrias (the theme for this trip)  This was my favorite drink they served us...

Cranberry Mimosa

1 Bottle Cranberry Wine

12-14 oz. orange juice

7-up, Sprite or other mixer (ginger ale)

Blend wine and Orange juice and chill.

Add mixer when serving.  You can also add fresh fruit

to the wine and OJ when chilling to add more flavor such as

strawberries, pineapple,oranges ect...

Bauer-Kearns Winery

This was the second stop and their sangrias were wonderful but the wine by itself I was not a fan...only because they make less sweet and dry wines and I am a sweet red wine kind of a girl!

Sinnipee Valley Vineyard 

We took a wrong turn getting to this one, but that adds to the adventure and we were soon on the right road!

This was my favorite vineyard of the day!  The drive there is beautiful, the setting is beautiful and they have GREAT wines and the sangrias were GREAT too!  The owners here are also great and we met some fun people along the way.  They also have a deck where you can sit and relax with grape vines growing around the railings and when we left on got back on the road my friend confessed a little secret...

He snagged a grape on the way out!

The next stop was Galena Cellars, the retail store.   I've had their wines before so I know what ones I like but I did do some tasting with the hubby. At this place they charge $5 to taste 6 wines so the hubby and I split a tasting and had 3 each.  I have to say,of the wines I tried, I hated all 3!  But they do make Cranberry Bog that is really good!  I would highly recommend a trip to Galena, IL.  I love visiting this place, there are fun shops and the town is full of history.  The Galena Canning Company is a fun store that has 100's of sauces and products that are for the most part flaming hot!  My hubby, me and the Grape Snagger tried a sample of "#$@&ing Hot Peanuts.  These were not just hot, they were make your nose run, your eyes water, your ears burn, cry for your mommy to make the burn stop, HOT!!!  My friend Tashy was the only smart one that did not try them!  Next time I will heed the warning in the name and pass!

If you love chocolate like I do and you are in Galena then make a stop at Chocolat'...here we had...

Chocolate covered bacon!  And it was yummy!

I've had chocolates from here before and they are all wonderful!

And finally the wines that made it home with us!
Chocolate Red Cherry-Sinnipee Valley Vineyards
Ice Maiden-Spurgeon Vineyards
Sweet Cherry-Spurgeon Vineyards

Total number of wines I tasted=24

Fun with great friends=Priceless

And for the last photo, a sign, that we laughed about that is all around the town of Galena...

Thankfully I am not an offender, I have doo-doo bags on all my dogs leashes and I always pick up!